Instagram introduces Live video and disappearing messages

After Instagram copied Snapchat and then differentiated itself by adding Boomerangs, mentions, and URLs, now the company is at it again.

Starting today, the company is rolling out ephemeral Live video and messages. The first is arguably the most interesting addition, and brings one of Facebook’s big features to the photo sharing
app.

When you’re creating a story, you’ll soon be able to swipe over to a new ‘Live’ button, offering a way for users to hop into a livestream. When someone starts streaming, the app sends a notification
to the user’s followers, who can then watch and leave comments. One of the comments can be pinned to the top of the feed, or comments can be completely turned off.

The whole thing looks a lot like Facebook’s Live offering, but stripped from emoji reactions. Also, a recorded video won’t automatically be posted to the user’s profile after
broadcasting. The feature is rolling out globally over the coming weeks.

Rolling out today is something else — disappearing messages. When you press the new messaging icon in the top right corner of the app’s home screen, you’ll be able to privately send a photo or
video to people that are following you.

It’s not hard to see this is a literal page out of Snapchat’s book, which was a pioneer of ephemeral messaging when the app launched in 2011.

And so the battle between Snapchat and Instagram Stories continues — the rate at which Instagram has been adding new features is pretty incredible, and has been completely turning Stories into its
own product. But then again, they don’t have fancy connected sunglasses.

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And Finally....

Periscope update brings three new ways to engage your audience

Periscope today announced three entirely new ways to engage with your live audience — Superfans, groups, and logging in to Periscope.tv.

The first, Superfans, unearths your most engaged followers and provides each with a special flame icon. Each are then ranked from one to 10 based on prior engagement.

For content creators, this provides an easy opportunity to increase engagement among your most passionate followers.

Groups, the second new feature, allows you to broadcast and share video with specific subsets of an audience. If you’re a tech reporter, for example, you can talk tech with one audience while talking
trash with your fantasy football crew in another. Neither will know about the other group unless you invite them.

Each person in the group has the ability to add others, so it’s essentially a potential network of interest-based broadcasting without sharing non-relevant streams with those who wouldn’t be
interested in them.

Last, but certainly not least, the latest updates to Periscope.tv make it easier than ever to find streams worth watching. Between search, the ability to browse selected feeds and highlighted
channels, and see what everyone in the community is sharing live you’ll never be short on content.

Better still, Periscope today is rolling out a “more complete web experience” that allows you to do the same things you’d normally have to use your mobile device for — like send hearts, or comment on
live video.

Contact Socially Tuned today to find out how our expertise and contacts can give you the competitive
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